Business Academy Bexley may be forced to cut staff over £500,000 deficit

Friday 16 April 2010 11:24 BST

Sponsor: Sir David Garrard backs the Business Academy Bexley

One of the Government's flagship academies is facing staff cuts after running up a £500,000 deficit.

The Business Academy Bexley has spent almost £300,000 fixing leaks, flaking steelwork and broken boilers in the £31 million Norman Foster-designed building.

Difficulties attracting pupils and staff meant the academy was forced to pay teachers "over the odds" to work at the school, in deprived Thamesmead.

The academy, sponsored by property developer Sir David Garrard, was one of the first of the Government's semi-independent, state-funded schools.

At its launch in 2003, Tony Blair hailed the academy as "the future" of state education, but results have remained low.

The academy's chief executive Sam Elms said she hoped redundancies would not be necessary to reduce the £500,000 deficit, caused largely by a building which is "incredibly expensive to run".

"It has had a number of huge problems, including the paint peeling off the steel-work, leaks, boilers that have broken," she said.

"We have spent probably about £280,000 of that deficit on the building. We have paid slightly over the odds for members of teaching staff because it has been difficult to recruit staff in Thamesmead and to retain them."

A high turnover of headteachers meant the academy was forced to hire the current principal, Christina Moon, at short notice last summer.

Both Ms Elms and Ms Moon earn between £120,000 and £130,000. Ms Elms said Ms Moon was "worth her weight in gold".

The academy has been left short of state funding, which is allocated per pupil. It has capacity for 1,350 pupils aged three to 19, but only 1,100 are on the roll.

The academy was placed on a hit list of failing schools two years ago but has been taken off after recording its best GCSE results last summer.